


Ancient Wars

by TheCliffStudios



Series: From Start to Finish. [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Mild Gore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-08-24 01:45:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8351482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCliffStudios/pseuds/TheCliffStudios
Summary: The Crystal Gems and the Humans are fighting a loosing battle. A new kind of hero is needed to fight this war.





	1. Chapter 1

Prologue: The Next Step  
Space is cold, dead and unforgiving place, crazy are those who venture into it. But every now and then an oasis is found among the stars. Our earth is an oasis, rich in life and resources, our primitive species is no threat to the cosmos, an easy target for colonisation and just what Topaz had been looking for.  
Pink diamond had sent Topaz out to find a planet for her first colony. The planet had good composition for gem production, great warriors would be created here.   
The little ship zoomed along the ocean. Until it came soon a small island, the perfect place for a c-series galaxy warp. Bismuth disembarked from the ship carrying supplies. Letting the parts drop to the floor she begun building knowing little of the dark times ahead.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 1 Frankenstein's Gem  
I’m sure you have heard of Frankenstein’s monster, well I'm about as close as you can get to it.   
In a dimly lit tunnel a man runs, he's running from some invisible threat, behind him the tunnel is falling apart, rubble erupting into clouds as panels crash into the floor. The running man is tall, about five and a half feet tall, he is thin all-over, his hair is navy blue, his eyes are like blue smoke, he wears old tattered genes a grey shirt with a pale yellow star and a black trench coat. As he runs he notices that he can see light at the end of the tunnel.  
One week earlier  
Doctor Doughton is one of the world's leading researchers in the field of gem-ology and an important figure in the war effort, the war was one sided when it started, humans were pests to these aliens, and despite his hard work the war would still be one sided if it wasn't for the Crystal Gems. Yes they deserve all the credit, the doctor thought to himself as he worked in His lab. His lab was quite small, it had all the basic necessities. The doctor's current project was an artificial Gem, this Gem was constructed from mostly earth gems, but the doctor had snuck some Gem shards in to the design, it would never work without them. The shape was that of two square pyramids stacked base to base, the top half of the casing had been removed, wires ran from inside the Gem running to a computer. The computer had various readouts displaying information in real time. The figures confirm a partial conscience but the Gem can't take a forum. The Doctor pondered this information unable to figure out why these problems were Present.  
“How goes the project Doc” Doughton looked up from his desk, in the door was Cliff Jord the Doctors young assistant a tall skinny lad, he works here helping the Doctor with his projects.   
“Not good Cliff, the Gem has partial thought but it can’t take a form. And I can't figure out why!” the Doctor cried clearly annoyed, he tended to do that when things get difficult Cliff mused.  
“What about giving it a body and using the Gem as a mind and Battery.”  
“No that wouldn't work, it emits the wrong kind of energy and robotics are too fragile for this. Unless we use a biological body, no we can't make one and nobody would ever volunteer.” The Doctor continued to ramble on, coming up and dismissing ideas constantly. Cliff was having an internal debate he could volunteer but what would happen to him? Would he stay himself or become someone new, he couldn't say for sure. But what did he have to lose, he lived in the lab’s office, didn't have a family or any friends. And there was so many people suffering, this invention could save lives.  
“I'll do it”  
The Doctor stopped mid sentence “what? You could die, are you sure about this?” Cliff gave him a look of confidence. “Okay, if your sure” the Doctor was concerned but he wasn't about to pass up  the only chance he had to get his invention working.   
After several hours of hard work and labour the two of them finally had rigged up a system to implant the Gem. “Now Cliff, this won't be painless. The Gem has to be directly connected to your blood stream, so the back needs to directly connect to the heart, if this goes wrong you will bleed out. Now there's no shame in backing out now.”  
“Thanks but I'm going to stick with my decision.”  
“You are the bravest man I know. Take these pain killers and go lay down” The Doctor gave Cliff Several Tablets. Cliff swallowed them whole and laying back on the table. “Good luck Cliff.” The Doctor switched on the machine but had to leave being unable to bear the screams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to my story. I hope you enjoy what you read and please leave any critisisms you have as long as it's constructive.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 2 Internal Conflict

“Oh will y- sh- up abou- your diamond”

Cliff was slowly awaking.

“Your just mad because you got shattered.”

“And so were you”

But there were two strange new voices he hadn't heard before, they seemed to come from everywhere at once. Cliff opened his eyes to find he was alone. He looked down and there on the left side of his chest was a Gem.

“He’s awake.” one of the voices said. The voice was soft and gentle.

“Yeah, so what?” The over voice said this voice was deep and booming.

“who's talking?” Cliff asked clearly confused.

“We are part of your Gem.”  It was the soft voice this time.

“wait wh-“

“Ah, Cliff you're awake. How do you feel?” The Doctor had rushed over to him after seeing him awake.

“I can hear voices”

The old man looked confused “what do you mean? What are you saying?”

“right now they are just bickering, but before they claimed to be parts of my gem” The doctor's face went pale, he didn't know they were still alive, he would never had used it if he had known. “To be honest I feel a bit dizzy.”

“Okay, come outside for some fresh air.”

 

A while later the two men were walking along an old beaten up path. The path winded throughout a small forest. “you know what Doc I feel much better now and I feel a bit stronger too.”

“Interesting the Gem must have changed your body slightly Cliff, I must admit you do look fitter.”

“So how will I control my Gem?”

“I'm not sure, each Gem has a different way in which the use their powers, I think it would be best for you to go to the Crystal Gems so that you can learn your powers.”

“What about your research?”

“Oh don't worry about me. I'll find a new assistant- “Doc heard two voices behind him gesturing Cliff to be quiet and to follow him. The both hid in a bush, nearby two big Gems were walking along the path.

“I heard two Humans over hear I swear it.” The first one said to the second, she was ferry large, buff and colored like a chetopuff.

“Jasper I very much doubt there are any Humans in the woods.”

“What would you know. You’re just a ruby.” The one called jasper spat.

by now Cliff and Doughton were trying to sneak past them, unfortunately, Cliff stepped on a twig snapping it. Jasper heard this and ran towards them summoning a crash helmet. Cliff shielded himself with his arms and waited for impact. Instead, he heard a series of crashes, as if someone large had hit a wall and fell to the ground. Cliff opened his eyes and saw a wall of dirt and rock in front of him. He reached out to touch it and it reacted by collecting around his hands to form two stone gauntlets. On the ground were the wall was Jasper was picking herself back up her visor clearly cracked.

“Doc get out of here I'll fend them off.” The Doctor didn't need telling twice.

While The soft voice who Cliff had decided to call L was all for the fight, the buff voice J was not and seemed to be all for surrender. Ignoring their advice Cliff charged at jasper yelling.

Throwing all his weight into a punch, Cliff hit Jasper with a solid Right hook, immediately ducking to avoid Jasper’s fist. While the two of them exchanged punches and head-butts Ruby was sneaking up on Cliff, in his hand was a small red dagger. Screaming Ruby ran at Cliff and shoved the dagger into Cliff’s back. He screamed with pain but continued on fighting afterward.

Growling jasper yelled. “I don’t get it, how can a Human do this?” Cliff turned on the Ruby and went to punch him. The punch never made a connection with the Ruby, but the ground below the Ruby shot her off. He turned his attention back to jasper right as she threw a punch, it connected hitting him square in the face. Jasper saw one thing before blasting off rage, pure rage and she wouldn’t forget it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> be awhile but i am writing, see you next time.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch. 3 The big City

It was a couple of days after the incident. The lab all was packed up, Doughton had arranged for a transport to pick them up. In the early hours of the morning an aircraft landed next to the lab, the two of them boarded the aircraft and it set off.

“So what’s the name of this City anyway?” Cliff asked

“it’s called Atlantis, it’s been around for centuries no one is sure how long though.” Outside the window Cliff could see a City, it’s golden spires reached into a sky like a hand reaching for the sky. It wasn’t connected to any mainland and the spreading of the waves gave away the fact that it was moving across the ocean. “whoa, it’s huge!” Cliff exclaimed with excitement, he hadn’t seen a city like this ever before.

After they had Docked Doughton and Cliff were being lead to the city centre. The people walking the streets were a bizarre mix of Humans and Gems, some were huge others tiny. There was so many different colours you could easily construct a rainbow out of them. “so who is it we are meeting with?” Cliff asked

“Rose quartz, she is the leader of the Crystal Gems and this is currently their main base. I think they plan to train you to fight, but I’m not sure.”

They were approaching a large tower, the tower was a mix of ornate pillars tangled in gold vines and sand yellow bricks. A grand door opened to revile a lively interior, Full of Gems and humans running around relaying information all over the place. At the centre of the room, in front of a table stood beautiful, large woman with lots of pink curly hair. Cliff assumed she must be Rose Quartz.

Cliff was lead to a training room under the tower, inside it was simple, wooden floor, punch bags and weapons on the wall. There were two Gems sparing, one was large, faded purple, and wire an apron, on here shoulder she had a star. The other was shorter, slender and moved with far more grade. She welded a spear, the other had shaped her hands into weapons. They were impressive both dealt massive force to one another but they both hardly seemed to notice. The larger of the two noticed Cliff in the doorway and stopped the sparing.

“So you must be Cliff!”  She bellowed out “The names Bismuth nice to meet ya.”

Cliff extended a hand “Nice to meet you too” Bismuth just stared at his hand Clearly not familiar with the gesture. “So who's the other Gem?” Cliff said as he retracted his hand.

“Oh I'm pearl. But enough with the pleasantries let's get down to business” the slender Gem now identified as pearl. “I will be your instructor. Listen and do everything I say and you might make some progress.” Pearl was quite commanding “Do you have any previous fighting experience?”

“No, not really.”

“Okay just pick a Weapon from that rack over there. Any you like.”

Cliff walked to the rack, an assortment of weapons hanged there. A whip, a shield, a sword and an axe. Cliff picked up the axe and immediately fell to the floor from the sheer weight of it. He soon got back up and managed to lift it.

“Okay let's see how you cope with this.”

The axe was cumbersome and difficult to control Cliff nearly crashed through a wall axe first.

The whip while light was difficult to control to. Never going where he would expect it to, but he did manage to disarm pearl with it, he soon discovered that it didn't matter as she summoned a new one quickly after.

The shield was great for defence but even when ramming it into his opponent he didn't do much damage.

Next was the sword, it had good weight to it. Enough that it had proper momentum in a swing but no so much he lost balance in his wrists.

Pearl swung her spear down, Cliff swung up to meet her and with a definite clang he blocked her attack. Pearl tried 3 more times than Cliff managed to block twice but one got through delivering a blow to his side.

“very good for your fist time, forums a little of but that will change with practise.” Pearl said clearly excited as Bismuth left the room.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you can find an instrumental version of do it for him/her, you might want to play it when we get to the song.

Ch. 4 Sworn to Earth

“Cliff, before we can continue I need to know why you fight. What drives you?” Pearl asked enthusiastically.

Cliff thought for a moment “Well, this is my home. People like Doc have done so much for me, I owe it to them. And my family is here somewhere I know it!” Pear smiled

“what?” L asked

“I see, well then follow me”

Pearl lead Cliff to a crystal pad “This is a warp pad, it’s they’re to teleport gems and items across Earth. Il teach you how to use it soon, but for now, just try to stay still.” Pear steadied herself on the warp pad, they were both quickly surrounded by light. Cliff felt himself become weightless, at first, it was nauseating, but he soon got used to it. Just as quick as it had appeared the light faded, Cliff fell face first onto the pad. Without realizing he had been floating upwards. L laughed at him, while J grunted clearly annoyed. Another thing Cliff quickly realized was that this wasn’t the same Pad, somehow he had moved.

He was a Staring at clouds down below him, he appeared to be on a floating structure made from some kind of stone. “This way, quickly!” Pearl demanded. Picking himself up he followed her up the stairs.

“This is the Sky Arena; this is where you will learn to fight.” Cliff was awestruck, he stood at the center of a huge arena, there were beautiful statues of tall Gems holding various weapons. Producing one from her head Pearl gave Cliff a sword, it was a simple design iron blade, slightly curved with a hand Guard along the hilt.

  **Do it for Earth/Her**

Pearl: Remember, you'll do it for Earth, and you'll do it again. You'll do it for her, that is to say, you'll do it for Earth.

Pearl: Keep your stance wide, keep your body lowered. As you're moving forward balance is the key! Right foot, Left foot, now go even faster. As you're moving backwards keep your eyes on me.

Cliff: Keep my, stance wide.  
Pearl: Good.  
Cliff: Keep my body lowered.  
Pearl: Right!  
Cliff: As I'm moving forward-  
Pearl: Concentrate! Don't you want Earth to be free?!  
Cliff: Right foot, Left foot..  
Pearl: Yes, but put your whole body into it! Everything you have, everything you are you've got to give.

On the Battlefield, when everything is chaos, And you have nothing but the way you feel, your strategy and a sword.. You'll just think about the life you'll have together after the war, And when you do it for her, that's how you know you can win! You do it for her, that is to say, you'll do it for Earth.

Deep down, you know, you weren't built for fighting, but that doesn't mean you're not prepared to try!

What they, don't know, is your real advantage. When you live for someone you're pre-pared to die.

Cliff: Deep down, I know, That I'm just a human.  
Pearl: True-  
Both: But I (You) know that I (You) can draw my (Your) sword and fight!  
Cliff: With my short experience-  
Pearl: Good.  
Cliff: I can make a difference.  
Pearl: Yes, excellent!  
Cliff: I can be there for Earth, I can be It’s Protector.  
I can do it for Earth!  
Both: You do it for her.  
Pearl: Okay now do that again! (Cliff: Yes mam!)  
You do it for her, and now you say.  
Cliff: I'll do it for Earth.

  



End file.
